This invention relates to a power train construction of a vehicle.
As a conventional power train construction, there is known a technique disclosed in, for example, Laid Open Unexamined German Patent Application No. 3,838,073, in which an engine and a transmission are disposed parallel to one another in a direction of movement of a vehicle in such a manner that an axial line of a crankshaft of the engine is in a car width direction of the vehicle, the transmission is arranged at the rear of the engine, and an axis of the transmission is in parallel with the crankshaft of the engine. In this prior art reference, a front axle of the vehicle is located under the transmission, the engine is inclined in a rearward direction of the vehicle, and a driving power transmitted from the engine to the transmission is transmitted to rear wheels from a propeller shaft extending in the vehicle movement direction or longitudinal direction of the vehicle through the medium of a transfer device having a bevel gear for changing a transmitted direction of the driving power by 90.degree.. As to an exhaust system of the engine, arranged on a rear side of the engine is an exhaust port which is connected to an exhaust pipe extending obliquely, downwardly in a rearward direction of the vehicle.
On the other hand, in general, front wheels are steered in such a manner that rotation of a steering wheel in a compartment is transmitted to right and left front wheels via a steering shaft disposed widthwise of the vehicle.
In the power train construction of the above-noted reference, however, since the engine is inclined in a rearward direction of the vehicle, a ground clearance of the vehicle where the steering shaft is disposed is lowered. Particularly, in a power train construction where the exhaust pipe is connected to the exhaust port located on the rear side of the engine, since the exhaust pipe occupies a space behind the engine, a ground clearance of the steering shaft is further lowered, so as to be the same ground clearance of the axis of the front wheels. Consequently, when the transfer device is disposed under the steering shaft, the lowest ground clearance of the vehicle cannot be ensured because a lower part of the bevel gear having a large diameter extrudes downward. On the other hand, in a power train construction where the transfer device is disposed at the rear of the steering shaft, the whole power train including the transfer device lies along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, which causes no compaction of the power train in the longitudinal direction. Further, when an upstream portion of the exhaust pipe is connected to the rear side of the engine, the whole power train including the exhaust pipe on the upstream side and the transfer device is extruded at upper and lower parts thereof rearward of the vehicle and is hollowed at an intermediate part thereof. As a result, when the whole power train is assembled by lowering the power train from above to an engine compartment of the vehicle at one time, to a set position of the engine compartment of the vehicle in which the steering shaft is already assembled, the steering shaft blocks the assembling, which results in difficult assembling of the power train within the engine compartment.